On Wednesday, November 27th, the 9th and 10th grade English Speech Competition took place in the grand auditorium. The event was a celebration of the efforts of a select few talented speakers who showcased their rhetoric, oration, and imaginations in front of their peers.

This year, aspiring participants wrote stories on the prompt: ‘The story of…’. The competition began weeks before on November 1st, with a filmed submission to Mr. Pickart to be assessed. In 3-5 minutes, storytellers were given no props and had to rely on their voices and gestures. Judged by an elite panel of judges consisting of Ms. Kulik, Mr. Cordes, Mr. Hartmann, Mr. Shelton, and Mr. Axelrad, they began.

The competitors wove stories of intense psychological drama, criticisms of wanton accusation, dystopic societies of conformity, informational speeches on the innovations of modern times, inspiring tales of rising to overcome a challenge previously left by the wayside, and sublime experiences of nature reigning supreme over the musty tomes of the classroom. The audience even bore witness to aspiring poets with dreams of the eternal and the place where one belongs; comedic renditions of Queen wrapped in layers of encouragement to overcome stage fright; philosophical debates on the unfounded discrimination against snakes; explorations of human mortality during World War I; analyses of moral discussions in comic books; and myths on the creation of the hot pepper.

Once the myriad of prepared speeches concluded, the rapid-fire, impromptu round kicked off as all contestants lined up on stage to deliver their own randomly chosen prompts to an expecting audience. With only 30 seconds of preparation, they produced stories akin to thoroughly prepared manuscripts, complete with themes of acceptance, confidence, and embarrassment.

This year, the competition focused primarily on giving the contestants the opportunity for personalized storytelling over informational speeches, allowing their individual talents to liven up both their performances and excite the audience. Congratulations to Yiming, Winnie, and Jessie for their outstanding third, second, and first place finishes! Students and teachers all look forward to continuing this great work in future English speech competitions.

(Written by Brandon Wu Pictures by Sun Hao Supervised by Xie Junyu)